Acoustical venetian blind



March 25, 1952 H. K. PHILLIPS ACOUSTICAL VENETIAN BLIND 2 SHEETSSHEET 1Filed June 30. 1950 INVEN TOR HARDY K PH/LL/PI 59 6% ATTORNEYS PatentedMar. 25, 1952 ACOUSTICAL VENETIAN BLIND easy a. Phillips, Morganton, N.0.

Application June 30, 1950, Serial No. 171,415

2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a Venetian blind and more specially to aVenetian blind slat which is so constructed as to have acousticalproperties so that the slats of the blinds will absorb sound wavesimpinging thereagainst.

It is another object of this invention to provide a Venetian blindhaving a plurality of slats,

each of said slats being constructed with suitable insulating propertiessuch as insulating fibers to absorb and trap sound waves and to preventsuch sound waves from passing through the blind.

In conventional Venetian blinds, the slats may be adjusted to regulatethe admission of light and air and it is another object of thisinvention to so construct the blinds that when the slats are in aslanted position sound waves reflected from one side of the slats willbounce against the under surface of an adjacent slat and be absorbed bythe acoustical material and will not pass through the blinds. This willpermit the blinds to be used in Windows and the like of a room to keepnoise from passing through the windows to thus sound condition the room.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objectswill appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is an elevation of aVenetian blind embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line22 in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan view looking up along the line 3--3 in Figure 1 andshowing the under surface of the improved slat;

Figure 4 is a bottom plan view of a modified form of slat;

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line5-5 in Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view through a blind slat similar toFigure 5 but showing another modified form;

Figure 7 is a vertical sectional view through a slat similar to Figure 5but showing another modified form;

Figure 8 is a vertical sectional view through a slat similar to Figure 5but showing still another modified form.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the numeral It! indicatesthe upper frame member or supporting member of the Venetian blind whichis adapted to be secured to'the upper portion of a window frame or thelike by any suitable means, not shown, such as brackets attached to eachend of the supporting member It or by screws penetrating the supportingmember H3.

2 Suitable means such as conventional brackets II and Ila are secured tothe lower surface of the supporting member H] for supporting theVenetian blind assembly. The structure of" the Venetian blind assemblyis conventional and comprises a head member 12 which is rotatablymounted in the brackets H and Ha. and is pro- .vided with suitable cordsl3 and conventional means, not shown, for raising and lowering'theblinds. The assembly is also provided with cords l5 and suitablemechanism broadly indicated at 6 for rotating the head member l2 tochange the angle at which the slats are disposed.

A pair of depending tapes I! and I8 are secured at their upper ends tothe head member [2 and the tapes I! and 18 are provided with a pluralityof substantially horizontally disposed transverse tapes 20. Each of thetransverse tapes 20 supports a slat 2 I. The lowermost ends of the tapesI! and I8 are secured to a bottom piece 22, The cords 13 for raising andlowering the blinds extend downwardly through each of the slats 2| andare secured to the lower surface of the bottom piece 22 in aconventional manner. I

Heretofore the slats 2| used in a Venetian blind assembly of the typedescribed have been of various shapes and forms, and it is an object ofthis invention to so construct these slats as to give them acousticalproperties so that they may be used to prevent sound from passingthrough the Venetian blinds. To this end there is provided a slat asshown in Figures 1, 2 and 3 having an outer shell member 30 which isconcave and may be formed of any suitable material such as metal orplastic which is curved under at its opposed edges thereof formingflanges 3| and 31a and a bridging member 32 which is also concaveextends between the flange portions 31 and am of the shell member 30 andis secured thereto in any suitable manner as by welding or fusing. Thebridging member 32 is preferably made of plastic but may be of anysuitable material and may be provided with a plurality of bores 33. Thespace between the bridging member 32 and the shell 30 is filled withsuitable sound absorbent insulating material 35 which may be fibroussuch as fibrous glass or the like. The outer shell 30, the insulatingmaterial 35 and the bridging member 32 are each provided with coincidingslots 36 and 3! spaced from each end thereof, said slots beingpenetrated by-the cords i3.

It-wiil be noted that opposed ends of the upper shell 38 of the slats 2|are turned under as-at 38 and 39 to seal the respective ends of theslat.

flanges 62 and 63.

The cords i3 may be manipulated in a conventional manner to cause thetransverse tapes to be disposed in an angle relative to the horizontal,whereby sound waves from one side of the blind directed against theunder surfaces of the slats 21 will penetrate the bores 33 and beabsorbed by the acoustical material 35, and thus will not pass throughthe blind.

Referring now to Figures 4 and 5, there will be observed a modified formof this invention which comprises a slat broadly indicated at 5%, saidslat being adapted to be used with a plurality of identical slatsarranged in a manner similar to those shown in Figure l. The slat 59comprises an upper or outer shell member 5| which may be formed of anysuitable material such as metal or plastic and which is preferablyconcave and has its opposed edges turned under to form side flanges 52and 53 and end flanges 54 and 54a. The shell 51 is filled with soundabsorbing material 55 such as any suitable fibrous material such asfibrous glass. In order to hold the fibrous glass in position within theshell 5|. a woven cloth 56 of substantially the same configuration asthe slat 59 is positioned adjacent the lower surface of the soundabsorbing material 55.

The cloth 55 may be made of any suitable material and if desired may bemade with plastic yarns to further assist in absorbing sound. To holdthe cloth 56 and fibrous sound absorbing material 55 in position withinthe shell 51, a plurality of transversely extending leaf spring members5'! are provided, said leaf members 57 having small flanges 58 oneach'end thereof which fit under the flanges 52 and 53 and are held inposition thereby. The leaf spring members 51 thus assume a concave shapeand hold the sound absorbing material 55 and the woven material 56 inposition within the shell 55.

The shell50, sound absorbing material 55 and the cloth 55 havecoinciding spaced bores 59 which are penetrated by the cords I3.

The slats 50 are adapted to be used in the same manner as the slats 2|and the woven material 56 will partly absorb sound and permit some soundto pass therethrough and be absorbed by the fibrous sound absorbingmaterial 55 to thus preventsound from passing through the Venetianblind.

Referring to Figure 6, there will be observed another modified form ofthis invention in which a slat broadly designated at 6:] is providedwith an outer shell 6! preferably concave in shape and having itsopposed edge portion turned under to form flanges 62 and 63 and beingprovided with a bridging member 85 which is concave in shape conformingto the concave shape of the shell member El and which extends betweenthe ing member 65 and the outer shell BI is filled with any suitablesound absorbing material 56 such as fibrous glass or the like. Thebridging member 55 in this form of the invention is formed of a solidsheet of sound absorbing plastic. This plastic will absorb sound waveshitting thereagainst and such waves will be cushioned and retained bythe sound absorbing material disposed between the sound absorbingplastic 65 and the outer shell 6 Referring now to Figure 7 another formof the invention will be observed in which a slat H3 is provided, theslat if! being substantially flat and which is formed of an outer shellH which has The space between the bridga fiat upper surface and whichmay be formed from any suitable material such as wood, metal or plasticand which has its outer edges turned under to form flanges 12 and "E3.Disposed adjacent the under surface of the shell member .i and betweenthe flanges 12 and i3 is a sheet of sound absorbent material 15 whichmay be of any suitable material such as fibrous glass or the like andwhich is compressed into an almost solidified rectangular unit and isheld in position between the flanges 12 and 13 by said flanges.

Referring to Figure 8 still another modified form of slat broadlyindicated at 89 will be observed. The slat may be of any suitable sizeshape and is preferably rectangular in shape and is formed from soundabsorbing material such as fibrous glass and the like indicated at 81This material is compressed into a solid sheet to form a slat of thedesired shape. If desired, suitable adhesive such as glue may be mixedwith the fibrous material when compressing the same to increase thetensile strength thereof to cause the slat SE to maintain its shape.

The slats 2%, 5b, 5%), l5 and 89 are all adapted for identical usewherein a plurality of like slats are positioned in a Venetian blindsuch as shown in Figure 1 and whereby the slats may be disposed at anangle so that sound waves directed against the under surface thereofwill be absorbed by .ie sound absorbing material of the slats t preventsound from passing through the blind.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferredembodiment of the invention and althoughspecific terms are employed,they are used in a descriptive and generlc sense only, and not forpurposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in theclaims.

I claim:

1. A slat for Venetian blind comprising a etaliic outer shell memberwhich is concavo convex in cross section and having the side edgesthereof bent inwardly toward each other to overlap the concave surfaceof the shell member, a layer of fibrous sound absorbent materialdisposed against the concave side of the shell memand a perforated stripdisposed against the concave side of the fibrous material and confinedin position by the inturned edges of the shell member.

2, A slat for a Venetian blind comprising an elongated shell memberwhich is concavo-convex in cross section and having its side edges bentinwardly towards each other and overlapping in spaced relation to theconcave side of the shell iember, a layer of absorbent material disposedagainst the concave side of the shell member and extending into thespace between the main portion of the shell member and the inturnededges thereof.

HARDY K. PHILLIPS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,851,782 Sugiura Mai. 29, 19.322,169,638 Bedell et a1 May 30, 1939 2,174,249 Pratt Sept. 26, 19392,325,063 Beckwith et al. -M- July 20, 1943

